GO-Bio next
With GO-Bio next, the BMBF supports teams of scientists from the life sciences who are ready to found a company.
Making the leap from laboratory to industry with GO-Bio next
Very few business ideas in the field of life sciences are immediately ready for commercialisation. In most cases, further, often extensive and expensive research is required before a product is ready for the market. Since 2005, the BMBF's "Gründungsoffensive Biotechnologie“ has therefore supported research teams willing to set up a business in eight selection rounds, who want to validate life science findings and technologies and commercialise them in the form of a start-up.
The new version of the funding guideline, called "GO-Bio next", continues to focus on the long development periods and high funding requirements typical of biotechnological research projects.
The funding is organised in two phases. In the first phase, the BMBF funds research projects at universities and research institutions; in the second phase, it funds the continuation of these projects in the start-up company.
Getting fit for the market
However, closing a financing gap through funding is not everything: entrepreneurial expertise is also crucial for the long-term success of a project. In order to make the teams fit for the market, the GO-Bio next programme also promotes the entrepreneurial skills of the researchers with the so-called GründungsGespräche.
On the way to GO-Bio next funding
Research teams can submit project outlines twice a year, on 15 March and 15 September.
Who is funded?
In the first funding phase, GO-Bio next is aimed at research teams from German universities and research institutions who are willing to set up a company.
In the second funding phase, GO-Bio next supports small technology-orientated corporations. As a rule, these should have been founded as a result of the first funding phase, with the key know-how carriers of the underlying technology contributing their knowledge and labour to the new company. An important prerequisite for the second funding phase is counter-financing from investors. Cross-entry into the second funding phase is possible. The requirements for this can be found in the FAQs.
In line with the Federal Government's start-up strategy, the BMBF expressly supports diverse start-up teams.
What is funded?
The object of the funding is the development of innovative R&D approaches in the field of life sciences with high commercialisation potential up to a degree of maturity that
- enables a successful spin-off (first funding phase) or
- lays the foundation for the sustainable development of the spin-off company (second funding phase).
The projects are intended to address a major need in the life sciences and are characterised by the fact that they cannot be implemented without public funding due to the lack of technological maturity.
Explicitly excluded are projects that fall under the priority areas of agricultural, food and nutrition research.
In contrast to EXIST Forschungstransfer, GO-Bio next is aimed at research projects for which long development periods, high financial requirements (even after the company has been founded) and a high development risk are foreseeable at the time of application. You can find precise delimitation criteria in the FAQs.
How is funding provided?
GO-Bio next funding is provided in two phases, each lasting a maximum of three years:
In the first funding phase, the teams work on the proof-of-concept for the research approach or develop it further. The BMBF funds research projects up to a level of maturity that enables a spin-off and counter-financing by investors in the subsequent second phase. This second phase is in the academic field, but preparatory measures for setting up a company are already taking place. At the same time, the research teams will develop concrete commercialisation strategies for further implementation based on the scientific results.
In the second funding phase, these strategies are transferred to commercial utilisation. The recipients of the funding are the established companies, which must raise private sector co-financing as an important prerequisite for funding. The teams should further increase the maturity of the research approach, develop strategies for the market launch and further concretise the business model.
The BMBF only funds individual projects in both phases. The amount of funding per project in both funding phases depends on the individual project content.